Master of the Berlin Roundels (German, active 1515)
Master of the Berlin Roundels (German, active 1515)
Master of the Berlin Roundels
German, active 1515
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Scholars named this artist the Master of the Berlin Roundels after a group of small, round drawings in various collections once believed to have been created by the same hand. Taken as a group, the roundels' average diameter measures no more than about seventy millimeters or 2 ¾ of an inch, and their purpose is unknown. They were probably drawn around 1515, a date that appears on one of them. About one third of the drawings represent humanistic versions of ancient themes, but most depict religious subjects. Their style seems to suggest that they originated in southern Germany, possibly in Augsburg or Constance. The figures stand in romantically conceived landscapes influenced by the Danube School.